#its BEAUTIFUL i hope they use it again in s5

[demadogs]

the fact that theres been multiple scenes of people telling el she needs to think of something that makes her “sad but also angry” in order to channel her powers to her full potential and then she was able to fight vecna right after mikes i love you monologue lmao

[cherucha]

So watched S5 of Monkie Kid, no spoilers but I wanted to talk about the animation now that we have the season in real good quality for viewing. I think for the most part while definitely not flying bark quality(not surprising) its still generally very good. Some characters transfer over to rigging much better than others, like Pigsy for example feels the smoothest as a rigged puppet.

Other wise, the 3d is not as well integrated, again not horrible however the mechs are still janky. I think the expressions and comedy really works still, its fast and jumpy and everything hits right.

Then the fight scenes, overall are okay. I really think the issue is time and budget and just it seems the camera work is much less dynamic...and slower? I think there is room for improvement. Again not expecting flying bark quality but I think for next season I'd like to see better camera dynamics and just a better flow to the animation.

So, overall I think that s5 animation while a downgrade is still pretty good like we went from a 10-11 to 7-8 tier animation. I definitely think they will improve with time with it, and I actually look forward to seeing it evolve in quality for s6...or I hope it does.

However, I do have one big complaint and its the biggest thing I hope they work on for s6, and that is the color grading and compositing. Its just the thing that I feel makes the quality difference between WB and FB the most obvious. Everything is so ...bright and..not saturated per say more like too harsh in color. It really highlights the less smooth movement.

The shading has just much less dynamics, which makes everything to clean, there are moments where the color grading and compositing are beautiful. The trailer shot with Chang'e and a *spoiler* shot from episode 10 with the bad guy are definitely a good showcase of proper compositing. So, clearly WB can really do good work with it, also look at Carmen Sandego; which has some really gorgeous compositing.

As it is the compositing is what I want them to really work on more in s6, proper compositing and color grading could do wonders for hiding some of the jank in movement, and would be easier time-wise to improve on, if they are not given a less strict production timeline.

So, in the end I am actually impressed with what they gave us honestly. I can not imagine the last minute switch in gave WB much time to really adjust as much as I am sure they as well as we wanted them too. There are things to be improved on, and I actually do have faith that the animation will be better in s6. At least the crew(if twitter is anything to go by) had fun and were glad to be given the project.

I will always miss Flying Bark, they are nearly unmatched when it comes to animation. However, despite the setbacks and improvements we want to see next season, I am happy to bring WB aboard.

[raayllum]

something about rayla willingly staying chained (or or least appearing to) for callum (let's be real she only felt shame over her arrest because it was callum)

and

callum giving everything to unchain himself for her.

Yeah, watching 5x01 for the first time the "Rayla in chains + Let her go" (and of course the ocean poem) all felt like set up for later in the season/show, but I didn't wanna get my hopes up, and then... 5x08 happened and delivered.

But I think it speaks to how much 5x01 and 5x08 are two episodes in fierce Conversation with each other. Which makes sense: in a lot of ways, they open and close Rayla and Callum's relationship arc this season, as while they have some sweet moments in 5x09 as well, their relationship isn't a focus.

5x01 deals with secret keeping, doing things you know your partner wouldn't exactly approve of, unconditional love, chains, freedom, etc. 5x08 then builds on all of these themes by flipping them on their head.

Where Callum had all the power in court (he's crown prince and the highest ranking member of the royal family in Ezran's absence), he's comparatively powerless on Finnegrin's ship. Where "Let her go" was an order to Opeli, it was a plea to the pirate. Rayla remains 'chained' and doesn't advocate for herself at all in 5x01 out of her own guilt over her wrongdoing; in 5x08 she actually has to free herself and does so to save her friends, yes, but also to keep Callum from sullying his hands.

(This is a nice parallel, I think in some ways, to how Rayla was going to tell Callum the truth at the end of 5x01 -- thus repeating their pattern of her opening up out of guilt in the face of his forgiveness/unconditional love -- only for him to tell her "don't do it - not again", allowing her to forge a new way forward in 5x04).

Which, of course, Callum gets his new way forward too - the Ocean arcanum - but that also causes its own inverse: dark magic, and now he's the one keeping secrets. But it keeps the literal through line of the poem, Rayla's consistency in his evolution as a mage, and reaffirms the unconditional aspect of their bond.

Paired together, S4 and S5 are very much Callum accepting that Rayla's behaviour & choices are just her being herself (however much it may wound him, and however much he may dislike it) and as of 4x09 with "I know," he's accepted that he fully loves her for her, regardless of if she'll ever change. (Still a little bit of protecting himself by not going after / with her, again, but y'know - growth and regression simultaneously is more than fine.) Which is why when she starts changing in 5x04, it feels like such a big deal, because it's on her and their own behalf. It's her choice stemming from want and trust, not guilt and shame, because he's given her that unconditional base; she may do things that will wound him emotionally, but Callum also knows that Rayla would never intentionally hurt him or Ezran, ever, and that opening up is also still Very hard for her.

But that doesn't change the fact her absence made opening up for him much harder, and that hasn't really changed in S5. He's so much more open and sweet and goofy and comfortable with her, and he opens up in a few places, but he's still not emotionally depending on her the way he was in arc 1, understandably.

Something something Rayla being as true as the tides to him and his love for her being as "the ocean is deep" and To love is to simply know this:

Which like, that kind of love is transformative and good and beautiful and devoted (the real kind of strength, the forgiveness, the trust, unlocking his wings, etc) but it can also be terrifying and destructive and devastating (when you feel helpless, the dark magic uses, a weakness). And I think unlocking Callum's own chains in order to also free her with sky magic is like, a perfect example of that duality? He takes off his own literal chains but takes on a new, somewhat-metaphorical, somewhat-literal kind (now that he knows about the possession) at the same time. He has to accept and fully sit in that dark part of himself and its negative potential even in order to increase in magical power with another primal source in a positive way. It's all double edged sword. Just like her, just like them.

And just like that goddamn cube.

[deadwriter16]

Who are your top 7 favorite ships ever (can be canon or non canon) from any media? Why do you love them? Thanks 🌻

Also, random, but is there a story behind your name "deadwriter16"?

Hi anon!! Yall are seriously asking me such hard questions omggg but I will try my best! I am definitely forgetting ships but I'm just gonna write down seven ships that I love in no particular order!

also: there will likely be some spoilers ahead for some of these pieces of media so tread carefully. i'll tag all the shows below too :)

bkdk (bakugo and deku, bnha) - of course. i will always and forever love them. they mean so much to me and they are soulmates to me no matter what anybody else says. i mean just look at my ao3. its proof that they are soulmates fr. anyway id say i love them because i always really related to bakugou, especially before i left for college, and i thought that his and deku's love for each other was really beautiful. they will always have a special place in my heart

kyoru (kyo and tohru, fruits basket) - they made me believe in heterosexuality again lowkey. these two will also always have a special place in my heart. i'm a huge sucker for that selfless sweetheart character being selfish just for that one like angry dude who they picked out of the rain and claimed as theirs, (see: bkdk), and kyoru is like the best manifestation of that trope. they have permanently altered my brain chemistry and cured my depression

cece and schmidt (new girl) - idk if they have a ship name. these two. what is there to say about these two. so so much. their arc and their love story means absolutely everything to me. especially seeing a fellow indian woman get her happiness made me so happy, and both of their character development leading to them falling in love with each other,,, my favorite episodes in new girl are their episodes. they are THE love story. i want what they have

coliver (connor and oliver, htgawm) - these two also mean so so much to me. how to get away with murder is one of my comfort shows, which i know is a super weird thing to say, and ive always loved coliver. theyre both fucked up people, but they love each other and i personally LOVE the story and ending they got. their wedding episode is such a good episode and honestly i think i just love them because something about them is really real, even through all the hardship and toxicity and jail time, there's still love

mondler (monica and chandler, friends) - had they gotten together in season one they wouldve been UNSTOPPABLE. they are the friends to lovers blueprint and everything about them makes me smile. s5 is my favorite season of friends for a reason. their story is so important to me because they just like...kinda always loved each other? whether as friends or more there was just always love there, and it manifested itself in different ways but it was always there. best friends to lovers is my favorite thing ever and they are it !!!

maddie & chim (911) - yes yes i know buddie is fantastic and all but maddie and chim are my favorite simply because i love chimney with everything i am and i want him to have what he wants. also their baby is really cute. shout out jee yun. also also they've been through so much together and apart, and although i have my grievances with how some parts of their relationship was handled in the show, i will always love those two. no matter what, their love for each other always shows and shines and i just love them. also i am not caught up with the season 8 so nobody tell me anything

claire and phil (modern family) - i think these two were the first couple to make me believe that marriages can actually last. i thought, if these two polar opposites could survive all this time, then maybe there's a little hope for all of us. i love their different ways of showing love and how they can stay strong even through fights, and they are definitely my favorite modern family couple. people are always trying to talk about their toxic aspects but tbh that just makes them more real as a couple. and they still love each other throughout it all, even though they're both a little insane

honorable mention: jessica and louis (fresh off the boat), not done with the show yet but im on season 3 and any interaction between them makes me giggle and kick my feet. i wouldve put them on this list but since i havent finished the show i dont think i can compleyely speak on them yet. but as of rn i love them dearly and they are icons

also A.P. bio mention for jack and lynette bc they NEVER SHOULDVE BROKEN UP and then the SHOW GOT CANCELED and now ill NEVER KNOW IF THEY GET BACK TOGETHER but in my heart they did. glenn howerton tell me what was supposed to happen PLEASE

as for deadwriter 16,,, there's no story. when i was young and first coming up with this username i was just kinda like what do i associate myself? and back then i was a bit of a oooh death and darkness kinda person (see: my early works. generally very dark). so i anyway i was like ok ill do dead. keep in mind i was fourteen. and then writer came from the fact that i am a writer. and 16 is my birthday. hence deadwriter16!

this took me a while but thank u so much for the ask anon!!! i forgot how fun asks are lol bc now im so bad at answering them. life gets in the way i guess. anyway thanks again!

[sarasade]

One more thing because I value your opinion and views!! How do you feel about Jason saying that Viren isn't queer on the q&a on Twitter? The way he said as if it's not his personal opinion but rather something he also thought about and sought to learn more from the people above and was denied really broke my heart..... I don't talk about ships, I never expected any to be canon, but to dismiss all of the subtext And the jokes on s5 really brings the taste of queerbaiting 🫠🫠

Haha that's a lot of responsibility! I try not to disappoint then.

Yeah, I saw people talking about that on Twitter. I don't know the full context, really, since I don't usually check out the Q&As. What I think is that everyone, including the creators of the show, are allowed to have their own reading of the text. I think it's that simple. Maybe they don't particularly see the subtext around Viren but that doesn't mean it's out of malintent. Queer subtext is like this language you have to study to understand and some people just aren't fluent in it.

You are totally allowed to feel disappointed! There is nothing wrong with wanting a character to be queer or/and be respected as such. However I don't think this is queerbaiting. I used to be a BBC Sherlock fan (yeah...) and the way that show and its creators openly mocked the gay shipping fanbase while inserting gay "jokes" in the show was basically what I think queerbaiting is. Everyone in TDP staff is super sweet compared to that flippin' nightmare... Queer subtext, intentional or not, is not the same as queerbaiting IMO.

Personally, I see the authors' opinion as one among the many. "Death of the Author" etc. Devon Giehl (The lead writer/producer I think) seems to have her own reading where all the characters are bisexual (if not stated otherwise) which is neat. I've seen plenty of the official TDP staff share their own LGBT+ headcanons so many times that it's hard to keep up with it all. But if that's not shown in the show then I don't know- I appreciate that Giehl said that but I don't really need anyone's validation. I can just watch the show and see this beautiful elf boy outright state that he made a whole ass child with another man. That itself is, well, kind of gay. Like damn, it's right there in the show.

Why I've written a lot about the subtext around Viren and Aaravos is because I think it's fun and meaningful and interesting. I don't really think we as a fandom need a permission to read into things. as long as it's not about being hateful or harassment, of course

I wonder if this could be about miscommunication too. Like what do people mean when they say "queer" here since that can mean great many things? Once again I might lack the context.

This answer is kind of all over the place but this is how I see it. I hope this was at least a little satisfactory. Also if you want an evil a funny answer: Ok, so what if Viren is straight? We've seen what straight male fans think about Aaravos. What I'm trying to say is that Viren would still hit that. And we do know that Viren would do anything for Harrow so I don't think something as insignificant as heterosexuality could stop him from- ok that's probably enough I'll stop talking now.

[castlebyersafterdark]

you've mentioned you love upbeat pop and 80s tunes... can you speak a little more on what you'd like for musicality in the final season, soundtrack and score?

i personally think that pop culture is missing the sincerity of 90s/2000s film scores like john williams and swelling violins, and if any show could bring back unabashed sincerity (today known as cheesiness because we are still allergic to being genuine instead of ironic somehow) - its ST! the overall themes and story, the 80s ET-esque influences, and they already went there with an orchestral version of eleven's theme in s4. i really want to feel hopeful and uplifted by this story in a way that makes me feel like a kid again, even though edgier endings are seen as cooler. the score has some beautiful classics like the Eulogy motif that played when bob died, when el searched for her mother, and when mike and el broke up lmao

as for soundtrack, people seem to discuss that a lot and im up for almost anything. i think cyndi lauper will return. we know the clash will return too, and seeing as we centre around will i think more alternative and rock might be the way they go instead of mainly the new wave pop classics.

One of the things that made me fall in love with Stranger Things was that it had such a unique, distinctive score. The synths and specific motifs. Super engaging, really different than what a lot of shows were doing. It's always given the show more of a cinematic quality. I'm hoping for more super cool moments like in season 4 - the Journey revamp, Separate Ways?? So good. And listen, as cheesy as it is, I still get chills when I watch the sequence that mixes Running Up that Hill with the Main Theme, like are you kidding?? I was transfixed, hands white knuckling the couch during that whole sequence. The music just took you there, you know?? And that was just the penultimate season, can you imagine what these fucking insane composers are cooking up for the series finale? Whewwww. Because that moment felt like a series ender based on music usage and YET we get 8 more episodes. I'm so excited for the score choices almost as much for the answers to the mysteries and the shipping payoffs. I really really love movie/tv scores. ST has one of the very best. And the influence! You know how many remixes and covers of common songs have been done with synth stuff over the last decade and they're referred to as "Song Name: Stranger Things Mix" despite not having anything to do with the TV show? Her influence. Respect.

One thing that I disagree with the majority on is a reprisal of Heroes - sure, it can return! But I'd really prefer a score track than a song played whenever Byler gets together. More emotional that way. I don't know where it would fit, and I know everyone loves the lyrical connotation of Heroes, but I think this moment deserves something unique. Pinnacle of all the relationships in the show and no I am not exaggerating. Truly.

I have a playlist of potential season 5 song choices! I'll just list some highlights:

Edge of Seventeen - for the Party! When it skips to 1987. Especially for Will. These lyrics are so Will coded they make me insane.

The Breakup Song - This would be so on the nose cheesy fun, but it's a good song, it sets a mood. Mike and El break up and then some danger strike and boom, needle drop.

We need some Judas Priest for Will, since it's 80s, it's rock, and the lead singer is gay!! I never see this mentioned. He came out in the 90s but that would be so cool for future Will to learn that having known this band from his childhood. There's a lot of relevant songs of theirs to use in s5 but even some of the more obvious ones would be cool.

Love is a Battlefield was briefly in s2 but it would be perfect to get a feature in s5.

I honestly love a Billy Idol White Wedding badass moment for Nancy. It just fits her, I think.

I Ran So Far Away for something with Mike, I think this song is very necessary for him.

Only You by Yazoo for the Lucas/Max reunion!! It's so cute and so them.

A friend posted about this before so I'm not the one who came up with this idea, but they predict that Video Killed the Radio Star is going to be featured in promo, using the Radio Station hideout whenever we get the first teaser trailer and I think that's a very possible route. I see the vision so clearly, kinda can't get that out of my head. I think it also ties the 50s/Creel vibes to the present day characters with the radio vs. video imagery for both promotional stuff and the actual show itself.

Listen to Your Heart, Roxette. Again, for Mike. Introspective moments. Figuring out some heavy truths. Facing feelings.

The Man Who Sold the World for Will in some conjunction with his Henry issues. It's evocative, it's dark, it's Bowie, baby! Maybe remixed and slowed and made very creepy.

I don't think Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division has been in the show yet? But, it should.

Self Control - Laura Branigan

Wake Up the Neighborhood - Holland

No One Lives Forever - Oingo Boingo

Running With the Devil - Van Halen

Beds are Burning - Midnight Oil (can be used for a scene to demonstrate the absurdity of going about life, going to school, under military lockdown, end of the world vibes etc.)

Shout - Tears for Fears

Break on Through to the Other Side - The Doors (WillEl moment or something, I've heard some great remixes of this song!)

I'm mad they already used Thriller in the trailer for s2 because I've heard some fantastic synth remixes and the lyrics are soooo perfect for a scene where monsters are running rampant in Hawkins or something. It would be so 80s and I eat that shit up.

Eye in the Sky - Henry inside the minds of the town, tormenting our leads. Make it creepy. Make everything with him fucked up and dark.

If we don't get a really poignant needle drop with the core four Mike Will Dustin Lucas gearing up for battle to Kids in America, what has all this been for???????

PLEASE. Will in a pivotal moment very late in the season with Should I Stay or Should I Go! Seems obvious but worth listing. Some big scene is going down. Then quiet. No score. Then those first few notes cut the silence. Willlllllll. This to me is in the same vein as the lead up to the scene in Endgame when Cap lifts the hammer?? Sorry, haha you can take the boy outta Marvel but...🤣

[brasister]

I haven’t said anything yet on S6 of LITG, I wanted to wait it out. But since we only have four more volumes to go, I couldn’t help myself to play. Especially with all the post I’ve seen so far. So far I gotta say this has been a fun season since S2. The way I’m in love with every character so far, even my annoying twin. I don’t find myself getting bored or annoyed as I did with S5. First time I’m in love with all the boys, hehe including the most disliked one’s like Elliot, Ryan and Hamish. I know I’m gonna play multiple times for my faves Ozzy, Roberto, Ryan and Andy. They have my full heart. So my first route is Ozzy. I’m a little nervous about how things will turn out, hoping its not like Noah and Hope or Finn and Kat. Tho I love Grace, I wish she can see that she’s better off being friends with Ozzy and not push things that aren’t there. She’s just wasting time not being in a relationship where the person only has eyes for her. I don’t hate Ozzy or have the ick after the whole movie night. It only makes him sound human that he wanted to play the field seeing Grace and my Mc doing their thing. Can’t really blame the guy or point fingers. Especially because my Mc wasn’t playing around in Casa. Full attention on Andy and Hamish. Couldn’t help myself to fall in love with them both. Too bad Hamish wasn’t a love interest another wasted potential like, Tim/Rohan (Tho we get them in the dlc, but still they were the only boys I really liked) Noah/Rocco (Even if we did get to have Noah, his route was bs to me. Gave me the ick. I wanted Rocco so bad, he could have been redeemed) Seb/Nicky (Annoying how I couldn’t get them, they had a lot of character. Seb being my type in rl ugh...) Oliver (I know his available but why did he have to be all the way in the end, I rather had him replacing Tom and Tom coming in with Dylan) Eddie/Nicholas/Johnny (Not fair, like if our Mc has to deal with so much haters could we at least had someone backing us up. The three would have been great love interest). The only thing that bothers me is Amelia with her little chit chat. Why must she be in the way all the time, I just wanna hang out with my li, not her. It’s not like anything she has to say is even important to me, I don’t care about the Zeph thing. I don’t care if she got played by Marshall, she was warned. I hope Toby is a li for Grace, that girl really needs someone. Amelia could just leave and go find Zeph and be with him. I’m attracted to Bella, Chloe and Flo but I feel tired of going after girls if they are only a last minute thing to have. The only one that did great with a slow burn was Angie, her developing feelings for Mc and coming out gay was so beautiful to see. I thought I was going to hate Casa, but it was more fun then S5. I felt like I got to know the four boys without it being force on us. Hopefully Fusebox see that ppl enjoy a the type of relationship Bobby and Mc had. I want a lasting relationship, of course with it’s drama. But that it makes sense why our li fights for us so much and doesn’t want to give up. It does feel good being loved again by all the boys. I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds and how it ends. 

[nickjunesource]

its so disappointing what they've done to the nick/June love story ( I know it happens all the time in shows) this season they basically made it mean nothing to lift up June and Luke. and now knowing season 6 is going to be about June fighting for Luke AGAIN its just a bummer that they are proving June never really cared for nick inthat way.

We totally understand, it has been disappointing to see what they've done. The first two seasons and season four were absolutely beautiful, while seasons three and five were horrendous to say the least. Really sad to see a show drag a wonderful ship around like that. It does happen all the time, but Osblaine is particularly special and so it feels even worse to see their love and all its potential squandered.

While the post season 5 interviews were not great and did emphasise that point, we do want to really stress that those interviews were done long before they even began outlining and writing the sixth season, so they weren't talking about anything that would be set in stone. Look at the interviews from after the seasons from s2 onward- the following season is typically very different from the preceding end of season interviews. That gives us every reason to hope that Osblaine will have a strong comeback in this upcoming final season.

It is a major bummer that s5 really deemphasised June's love for Nick and had her focus on Luke and live a fairytale life. It was clearly a filler season with a completely unnecessary plot between June and Luke. When June said "give me 5 minutes and I'll go" at the end of 4x10, it should have meant to leave and go join a Mayday group, not have pancakes and mimosas with the squad before heading home. All that time in Luke's house made for a really bad season that few enjoyed. This show is strongest when June's love for Nick is most visible, like we saw in s1, s2, and s4. We do think though based on how things ended in 5x10 that the show has no choice but to have June and Luke be apart for an extended period of time as their stories are clearly set up to go in vastly different directions. And with that comes the everlasting hope that Nick and June will have a good number of scenes together. Their stories feel like they're bound to intersect with how things were set up at the end of s5. Both enmeshed in the resistance, both effectively ending their marriages, both in extremely dangerous positions that will eventually force them underground. It really feels like the perfect building blocks for them to have a strong season together, similar to what we got in s4.

[ncruuk]

What are you most proud of writing this year?

Hmm.

My first thought when I read this was 'what writing?' as looking back, 2022 hasn't felt a good year. RL has really had a massive impact on my writing time (as in what time I do get I'm nowhere near the right headspace or environment to write) and canon hasn't helped the muse either.

I'm proud of finishing Cuccioli, pennelli e fratelli - I was writing it when my father died and life went inside out and, for a while, even the idea of writing again felt impossibly out of reach. So just getting back to that and getting it finished was a significant milestone.

But in terms of writing (rather than finishing) I'm very proud of writing A Beautiful Mess of a Changing World.

Although I never say never, I always knew it was a very long shot to ever expect me to write a 'married with babies' fic in any fandom - too many years ago to mention, I struggled enough writing canon children into my fics to know that it wasn't my strength or my interest. And yet, in this story, I wrote Maya and Carina married and with triplets.

It's also an alternative-ending/show fix-it type fic that set out to try and reposition Maya and Carina into a happy, angst free place within the canon car-crash that was the season 5 conclusion. I know that much of fandom struggled with parts of the s5 narrative decision-making canon took, making many find it hard to keep 'in' with the show. Personally, I was no different, with the snippets I was picking up from GIFs/clips/commentary posts all making me wonder what the ?&#@ was going on with the writers and why they were destroying their own characters...and to the point that I was struggling to get back to my first love in the fandom, which is my series of stories involving the puppies (see above), and when I did, the ensemble was 'off' in those stories because I couldn't rediscover the s1-2ish family dynamics (pre Ripley death) that I'd written the stories with.

I don't write angst (without a clearly signposted happy ending from the outset). I do try to write drama, but situational drama during which the protagonists rise to the challenges I throw at them while in strong, drama-free relationships. I also don't generally write fights and hate....but in this fic I did. In this fic I allowed myself to write Maya and Carina in a SFD environment that had deteriorated even further than we see on the show....write them coping with station and hospital 'families' who were self-absorbed, arrogant and sanctimonious, happy to preach about family while isolating and abandoning Maya and Carina.

Others were writing similar situations, showing the ways that it almost breaks Maya and her relationship with Carina, but that is not me as a writer. I use fandom to be hopeful, to anticipate a hate-free, equitable and equal LGBTQ+ world where people do come through the chaos of life. So I wrote my version of the dawn that comes after the darkest moments. A dawn that put Carina's career and culture in the spotlight, showing that for all of the battles of misogyny, sexism and homophobia Maya was facing as a female firefighter in Seattle, being an OBGYN, being a Southern Italian bisexual woman, being Carina was not hate or discrimination-free. (And I'm hugely grateful and thankful for @bellalinguista helping me translate research into a credible character response, the story owes much to her).

It's a product of its time - it's a story I could only write in 2022 (sadly, because what a shit year that was in terms of domestic US news as well as global events, brought into canon that was going from bad to worse at an equally rapid rate). It's a story about hope, about there being a way forwards no matter what, about the dark being followed by a dawn (as different and unexpected as it might be). It's a story that maybe deserves an epilogue.....maybe.

Long answer to a short question!

Thanks for asking ☺️

Happy New Year!

[erikiara80]

ST analysis/S5 theories Part I: Will and Henry - parallels and differences

I started making theories on S5 the moment I finished S4. It was so good! Of course, theories should be fun, and they come from my immense love for this story and its amazing characters. If what I speculate doesn’t happen, no problem. I just hope the story is good. That being said, let’s have fun! 

There are so many theories to discuss and analysis to make. Where the powers come from, Will and Eleven, the parallels between the two Byler relationships (Nancy/ Jonathan, and Will/ Mike) and so much more! But today let’s talk about my favorite character, Will Byers. He didn’t have much to do this season, but his scenes were among my favorite. Some of them were so beautiful and heartbreaking. Noah Schnapp is such a talented actor. But more importantly, some of the most shocking reveals of the show that we got in S4 involve Will directly. That’s why they had to send him to California, imo, or it would be even more obvious. This proves his fundamental role in the story and in the last season of Stranger Things. I’m talking about Henry and Will’s parallels, the Upside Down being stuck at 11/6/83, the day Will went missing, Dustin telling they needed Will, and Nancy mentioning how he found a way to communicate with his mom with the lights. They really wanted us to think about the mysterious week he spent there alone. And for good reasons.

1. Parallels between Will Byers and Henry Creel

They’re obvious and very deliberate. From the words to describe them (sensitive kids), to their clothes and love for drawing. The writers went out of their way to make us notice how similar they are. Of course, it’s important for the story.

Two sensitive kids who love drawing

Almost the same clothes

They both drew the Mind Flayer.

Both Vecna and Will are called wizards. The password to enter Castle Byers in S1 is Radagast, the name of one of the wizards in The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings. Also, notice the flames on Will’s cloak. Flames, fireballs. The only thing that can hurt the creatures of the UD. Coincidence? I think not.

Hopper, in S2, asks if they can kill the Mind Flayer with fireballs

Even the littlest details show the clear connection between them.

Will in his classroom, in Lenora. Behind him, the name Henry

Henry’s infamous grandfather clock. The name of the manufacturer: Williams The clock was important in S4 and will be even more important in S5 (the theory on why is here )

So yeah, we get it, Duffer brothers. Will and Henry are similar (cough, and they both have powers, cough)

2. Differences

Henry didn’t have a loving family. His father seemed to at least care about him, but they didn’t seem close. Henry calling him blind and dumb could mean that he didn’t see many things, not just that he lost his eyes. Henry’s mother despised him and wanted a doctor to lock him up to fix him. And I’m sure he didn’t have a bond with his sister, who probably considered him a freak. Henry was a lonely, kid, like he said, deeply misunderstood, and when he realized he had powers, he didn’t have anybody who could guide him or stop him. So he started to use them to hurt others. He became a predator. He said: But for good. So he didn’t just kill for fun. But that doesn’t change the fact that he chose violence. 

Will has an awful dad, but he has a loving mother and brother. He has friends he loves fiercely, especially Mike. People who would do anything to protect him. And Will’s so selfless that he was even worried about Jonathan’s hand, when he was the one who’d almost died in a scary, alternate dimension.  

So why showing us how similar Will and Henry are? Some people think it’s foreshadowing of Will becoming like Henry. I disagree. We know that in S5 Will will have a huge role, but it’s going to be, to quote the Duffers, “the beginning of his coming of age”. I doubt they want him to be possessed again and start killing people. He’ll be a hero, not a villain.

Anyway, I think it is possible that Will only has vague memories of what happened to him in the UD. I’m sure people told him what he did, about the lights, the cassette player, the phone calls, and he was just like, hm, yeah, I did those things. It wouldn’t be too strange. In S2, Lucas told Max that Will didn’t want to talk about his experience. And let’s be honest. Has anyone ever asked him how he was able to almost open a gate in his living room? Or how did El recognize him from that pic? They never answered those questions. So maybe the answer in S5 will be something like: We were so focused on saving you, that we never really thought about it. Or, you always said you didn’t want to talk about it. And Will could say that it was all confused and he just remembered he was always cold and scared. 

Maybe he can’t remember because of the trauma. Like El forgot about Henry and the massacre. Or it could be something that was done to him. To let him stay dormant until Vecna or the MF needs him, once the UD starts to merge with our world. Will literally said that to Max and Lucas in S3, when they were talking about the Flayed people: “It’s like you’re dormant.”  The actor who plays Henry said that Vecna and Will have history. So, in S5, Will could realise that he knows more than he thinks and will need to remember every detail about those terrifying days. And in doing so, he will find the answers they need to win.

S5 SPOILERS

From some bts photos, we know that someone will get targeted by Vecna, or will have visions, or will have to reliving memories. 

Noah posted this pic on IG. He wears the same harness used when Max got Vecna’d in 4x04.

EDIT: It seems that the harness was for the van scene, for safety. But the other pics are still proof that something weird is going to happen, for sure

This is a flying harness.

In the S4 read table we see the actor who plays Lonnie. But we didn’t see Lonnie in S4, so either they cut his scene or they’ve already filmed a few scenes of S5. 

And here another bts pic of Noah and Millie at the Rink-o-Mania. Noah wears the same brown shirt. In the actual scene he doesn’t, so this happens later, in a vision. Whose vision? Who knows? Will's? Mike's, if he gets Vecna'd? Look at Millie’s dress. Yep. That’s the milkshake.

But even tho we don’t know what these pics mean, the hints throughout the whole show are clear: Will is important and has a deep connection to Henry, the Mind Flayer and the UD, because he has powers too. And this is one of the biggest surprises of the show. 

3. Will wasn’t just a random victim and the kidnapping scene proves it 

How:

The Demogorgon’s attack is different

The door opened with telekinesis (no creature in the show has ever used that power. Not the Demogorgons in S1 and S4, nor the demobats or demodogs. They could include that element in other seasons, but maybe they didn’t because they decided it could actually mean something)

The shed’s light (this detail comes back in S4. In the Creel House)

1)  It really seems that the Demorgogon specifically targeted Will, because after the kidnapping we learn that the monster chases preys that are bleeding: Barb, the deer, Jonathan and Nancy, the government men (at the school, Mike even says twice: “Blood! Blood!”) But the monster never really attacks Joyce. Imo, because she wasn’t bleeding. The Demogorgon just didn’t want her to help Will. And Will wasn’t bleeding either. We have confirmation from Hopper. When he finds his bike, Joyce explicitly asks if there was blood on it and Hopper says there wasn’t.

We also know that, despite the fact that he wasn’t bleeding, the Demogorgon followed Will for a mile. We know it was a mile because at the funeral Jonathan shows Nancy a map of Hawkins. The writers started the show with Will’s kidnapping, when we knew nothing about this world and this monster, and then spent the rest of the season showing us what the Demogorgon does and doesn’t do, how it attacks its prey, and what attracks it (Mike at school: “Blood! Blood!”) The Duffers never openly told us there was something weird about Will’s kidnapping, or that Will was somehow special. They showed us that his kidnapping was different from the other attacks.

Will’s kidnapping was important for the plot so they made it as mysterious as possible. True. But it’s also what they did AFTER S1 that, imo, confirms that what happened to Will was actually different. They could add information, details in later seasons that made that scene more like other attacks. But it never happened. 

On the contrary. At the end of S1 Will dies. So it seems he was just a random victim, right? But then in S2, when the Duffers said they planned out the rest of the show, suddenly Will tells Owens that this evil he’s seeing in the sky wants to kill everyone but him. Maybe, since he survived, Henry/Mind Flayer thought wait a minute, can we use him again? Sure. Or maybe Will’s “death” means something else. Because we know for sure that he wasn’t just a random victim like Barb or the other people. The very world he was trapped in apparently is stuck on the day he went missing (and not when he was intubated) That means that whatever being was in control there, the MF or Henry, they knew that something big had happened. And I refuse to believe they didn’t know it was Will. So, simply killing him and let him rot... Nah, not possible. Even if they wanted to kill him, it was for some specific reason. Stealing his powers, turnng him into an undead (He’s not breathing!) a creature of the UD. A... Zombie Boy the MF could control. We’ll see.

All of this, of course, makes me think that the Demogorgon showed up in the middle of the street to kidnap Will. 

He was targeted because he too is sensitive to (the Force) powers. He had the potential. Like Henry when he was 12. Will’s not an experiment or the child of someone who was part of Brenner’s experiments, like El. I think Henry and Will’s abilities were directly activated by the source of the powers itself. The UD/Mind Flayer. Henry’s in 1959, in his house. Will’s in the UD, on November 6th, 1983. That’s when his life changed, in many ways.

2)  I read the theory that it was El who opened the Byers’ door with telekinesis. That the Demogorgon was actually chasing her, she saw Will, (the reason why she later recognized him in the photo), but didn’t help him because she was scared. I disagree. It wasn’t her at the door. It was the monster. Will saw its tall shadow in the door’s glass. He heard it growling and on the phone when he tried to call 911. Plus, there was no reason for El to open the door in that moment. 

But it’s interesting that no other creature has ever used that power again. Not even Billy and the Flayed. My theory is that the Demogorgon in S1, as the only creature El touched when she opened the gate, kinda absorbed her powers, like Vecna did when the MF bit her in S3. And that’s also why the monster was also able to temporarily open small gates. Something we’ve never seen again. Also, in S2 and in S3, we see El opening a lot of chain locks (the Byers’ too, in 2x08. Same shot!) imo to make us make the connection that the Demogorgon was in fact using her powers in S1. But the point of this moment, imo, is that the monster could smash that door and grab Will. But it didn’t. And I find that detail very interesting.

3)  More thoughts on the Demogorgon. I know that it first killed a scientist in the lab, so it may seem that it wasn’t there for Will. Well. We already knew it was there to kill people. It also attacked Barb, two hunters... It wasn’t always at the Byers house in the UD during that week. But the Demogorgons in S1 and S4 we saw were always ferocious. They growled and screamed. Only the one that got Will was quiet. Also, the bike light flickered just a moment before Will saw it. I think it’s because it had just opened a small gate in the middle of the street. It totally makes sense to think that it knew Will was coming. 

Oh, one more thing. Nancy saw the Demogorgon at Steve’s and the monster was so close that she noticed it didn’t have a face. But it didn’t attack her. Maybe because she wasn’t bleeding? Or because it wasn’t hungry? But it did chase Will for a mile even tho he wasn’t bleeding. And if it was hungry, I bet it would’ve been much more aggressive.

The only season that seems to imply that Will was a random victim and is not special at all is S3, the season when he feels ignored and says that the MF has found “another me”. Billy.

Now, of course possessing Will again would be too risky anyway. He knows what the MF is and they could try to stop it again. But also, in that season Henry just wanted to get El’s powers and killed her. And he needed the Flayed’s bodies to build the Mind Flayer. So imo, Will being ignored doesn’t mean that he’s not important. 

Then, in S4, we got some big surprises. The introduction of Henry, who has many parallels with Will, the huge reveal that the UD didn’t always look like that. And that is even stuck on the very day Will went missing. And not just when El opened the gate. But the exact moment Will vanished, at 8:15 pm.

We know that’s when the Demogorgon got him, because Karen told Mike he had to go to bed at fifteen after (eight) And when Joyce calls her the next morning, Karen tells her Will left just a little bit after eight. So, at 8:15 he was in the shed with the Demogorgon. And the UD being stuck at that moment is definitely important (also Will keeps have visions of the MF at 8:15 pm, even tho when he was filming Mike it was actually 8:04)

So.

The only way I could accept this coincidence is if they explain it as a parallel with Henry, who also happened to move to a town and into a house where the veil between our world and the UD is probably thinner. And that’s why he was able to sense the UD and draw the MF, and how his powers were activated. If that’s the explanation on how Henry’s powers were activated, because he moved into the only house where he could develop his hidden abilities, then, maybe, I can accept that Will was going home that night, and since the lab was near, he just met the Demogorgon. And then, when he arrived in the UD and had a direct contact with it, like Henry with the MF when he was a kid, his powers were activated too. But that’s the only coincidence I could accept, kinda. And I still prefer the idea that the Demogorgon followed him for a mile because it knew it had to get that kid. After all, there IS a big difference here. When Henry communicated with the MF there was no open gate. In 1983 there was, plus at that point Henry Creel was in the UD with the MF. So we’ll see...

But back to the it wasn’t a coincidence theory

To sum up: the kidnapping scene breaks the pattern of the Demogorgon attacks, suggesting that Will is not like the other victims. The Demogorgon being a bit too quiet, almost “delicate” with him. The door opened with telekinesis. The clue of the light in the shed getting brighter and not flickering, like the lights in the Creel House’s attic where Nancy and the others find Vecna. So they only broke the pattern with Will. And after S4 I believe that the vanishing of Will Byers was different because someone in the Upside Down wanted him specifically.

I think there have always been hints that Will has powers, but every time the writers gave us plausible explanations for the things he could do, like Truesight and the neck tingle: him surviving in the UD for a week in S1, and being possessed by the Mind Flayer in S2. Sure, it was strange that he’d managed to survive alone, for six days, in the Upside Down and that the Demogorgon didn’t kill him immediately. But with what we learned about Henry and the UD it all makes more sense...

Bonus:

S2 - Owens talking about the “virus” that was infecting Will (aka the Mind Flayer)

S4 - Here he was talking to El

Hm, but at the very beginning of the season we have this. Look at the poster in Will’s room. What could it mean? It’s a mystery!

[itsryuworld]

but i'm still sad about what they did in vol.2 that i can't keep my hopes high. i mean, i love byler and always will even if its no canon in the show, but what was that "sad gay boy in love with his straight friend" plot AGAIN? i'm sick of it. it isn't fair, WHY?

it doesn't make sense at all. byler being unrequited all of sudden? after all that hints? i don't know what happened. i feel really hurt even if i still believe byler's gonna be canon in s5. vol.2 byler doesn't match vol.1 byler, WHAT WAS THAT? did they really make fun of us? why they did that? it was awful, as a bisexual person who had a lot of struggles when i was young i felt so hurt for will. i hated vol.2, it was so painful.

they gave us hope and then, look m*levn again being the main couple for no reason. i'm so done, i don't even care anymore, duffers. i don't know why they promised a lot of things that never happend, why they were so hypped about byler then?

that's my cuestion: why. i don't understand a shit. you left us nothing, duffers. melvins are gonna make fun of us forever, we're hurting and they're gonna have a lot of reasons to keep doing it, but us? we have nothing.

but it's still funny, i still ship byler. i still believe even if they broke our hearts. i hope byler happens in s5, i really do. bc nothing about mike make sense if byler isn't real. so i'm gonna keep holding but my hopes fell today. if it doesn't happen in s5, ok, i love mike and will, and i love them together, i can still have this fandom and i can be happy believing in this beautiful story about two boys who felt in love in their childhood. i don't fucking care, i don't.

will should have met some guy and have his perfect love story, but they put mike in his way? why? will is in love with mike and just gets his heart broken? why? i hate that. i hate that so much, i'm so angry. i've been a mike defender for so long but right now i can't stand him. i love will so much, he doesn't deserves this.

it doesn't make sense. is this the confirmation that the duffer brothers are really bad at writing? they just decided to make us believe byler is real but they love mlevn and they want it to be endgame? bc byler is a better story, we descovered a most beautiful story, better than m*levn so i don't care, byler won. byler is perfect. m*lven never's gonna be that amazing. they fooled us? it's their lost, not ours.

i've been queerbated before but THIS hurts the most bc it makes SO MUCH SENSE. so i won't give up. i'm not expecting anything now, not even in s5 but my byler heart won't change.

i hope byler is real bc this whole story they written is terrible unless byler is real.

[matan4il]

You know the thing with Buck cheating. I didn't like it. Count me down as someone who was definitely grossed out by it. It actually made me sympathetic to Taylor and Buck needs to confess and he deserves whatever Taylor hands him.

However.. I ship Buddie. Buck didnt do anything to Eddie and I stand by the thought Buck would 200% never cheat on anyone really but especially Eddie. So I get kind of confused by the people trying to get the gotcha question directed at Buddie shippers. I haven't seen anyone be like well its ok because insert Olivet FF card here.

Hopefully we get to the meat of Buddie and Eddies breakdown soon. Hopefully this Taylor stuff is resolved by 5 13. I cant see how Buck actually lets her let her place go when its all built on lies.

At the end of the day I think thats really where some of this defensiveness from people in the fandom come from who are afraid there is a chance Buck and Eddie identify as anything other then straight. Because maybe I'm wrong and Buddie is never canon. But the one thing I know is S5 is definitely ending with both single and more bonded then ever before. And I dont even want to know how Buck will react if Eddie actually joins a different firehouse, how that effects his relationship with Bobby. Especially after he was blocked before too and all he wants is his partner back. It will be a good story but again my main point is I really do think there is a portion of the fandom that is just absolutely not OK with how close and semi codependent Buddie are to each other because honestly it's hard to imagine how you introduce a viable female LI that rivals the others place in their life.

You will never have a women who fights a tsunami for Chris and you will never have a women who Eddie will entrust with Chris. So how do you write a well received love story??

Hi Nonnie! I feel you, I didn't like the cheating either. And I honestly don't get what the gotcha angle would even be in this context? No, I'm with you, I don't think Buck would ever cheat on Eddie. Generally speaking, it's not who he is as a person, which is why a lot of misery AND alcohol had to be involved for him to do it to Taylor, and I don't think he feels for her anything near what he feels for Eddie.

And I'm with you, I hope it will be resolved soon, and before she actually moves in with Buck. For both their sake. I also really hope he owns up to his own unhappiness in the r/s.

TBH, if there are people who don't enjoy Buddie's close bond, that's their right. I think they're missing out, and that whether you see Buddie as platonic or subtextually romantic, their is a beautiful r/s, full of love, trust and mutual caring and healing, and without a doubt, it is so intense that no one else coming now, regardless of gender, can compete with what Buddie have, so I honestly don't know how people can dislike it. But at the end of the day, we're all here to find comfort. If for some people, that doesn't include Buddie and for others it does, that's okay. Just so long as we don't attack each other. We're all humans looking for a way through a difficult life. Kindness to each other is key.

Thank you for this and I hope you have a great day! xoxox

(HI! I've been juggling work overload and medical stuff, sorry I fell behind on answering asks despite trying to double my pace. I'll try to use the weekend to catch up, look out for my ask tag. xoxox)

[tma-ficrec]

Five All Time Mod Recs

To start off this blog, we decided to submit ourselves to the mortifying ordeal of being known and show y’all our TMA top fic recs!

These are fics of very different premises and categories that stayed with us and soothed our souls. Feel free to ask for more recs (or more specific stuff) because we’re definitely not done. Enjoy!

Mod Ami:

Statement Ends  by @martivist 4k words. Jonmartin. Angst. Post-canon AU. Ending Speculation. Lore speculation. S5 AU.

"Final statement of Jonathan Sims. The Archivist. Statement given… I think it’s June? We haven’t done very well counting time since the days stopped. Summer 2019, call it that. Statement begins.

We’ve found a way to send them back where they came from. All of them."

Forty-some years after the apocalypse abruptly ends, the final acts of Jonathan Sims and Martin Blackwood come to light.

Mod note: This fic... goddamit this fic. I read it halfway through s5 and I genuinely think this is one of the best endings the show could have had. It hit all the points Jonny made and then some. This fic is pain, yes, but the best kind.

Ninety Feet To Home by @judesstfrancis 33k words. Jonmartin. No Powers AU. Baseball Players AU. Fluff. Pining.

Jon isn’t really Martin Blackwood’s biggest fan. And he knows it’s a him problem, because it’s not like Blackwood is a terrible person or like he loses on purposes just to ruin Jon’s life, but he can’t help it. In his defense, if you were on a hot streak and the same person kept coming in and ruining it for you every single time, you'd harbor a bit of resentment towards them, too.

Mod note: I’m so obsessed with this AU that I broke my vow of not making fanart for TMA and made fanart of it. Yeah. Sue me. It’s the perfect levels of pining, ridiculousness and it brought me (an argentinian whose only baseball reference is the HSM musical number) tremendous joy. As the us-statians would say: home fucking run. ALSO, MARTIN BLACKWOOD IS LATINOOOOO.

Maybe not the stuff of legend by imperfectcircle. 14k words. Jonmartin. Post-canon AU. S5 AU. Ending Speculation. Lore speculation. Angst with a Happy Ending.

Martin forgets slowly at first, and then all at once. One moment he's grasping at memories, desperate without knowing why to retain even a single image of an angry, scarred stranger saying incomprehensible things about eyes, and the next, nothing. He can't even remember what had him so anxious just now. A car alarm, probably, or a dog barking in the distance. He's always startled easily.

Mod note: I still quote it to myself from time to time. ‘’Martin, you ate the megalodon’’ makes me giggle and also terribly sad. This is an excellent way of exploring entities lore, as well as grief and hope. 

the garden of forking paths by @bibliocratic. 49k words. Jonmartin. Post-canon AU. Ending Speculation. Angst with a Happy Ending. Use of Spiral Doors.

Whatever he had predicted might happen, Jon wasn't expecting to survive upon demolishing the Panopticon. He certainly wasn't expecting to be rescued.

Instead, he wakes up in an alternative universe where he's never been the Archivist, and Martin Blackwood doesn't exist.

Martin Blackwood wakes up somewhere else entirely.

Mod note: I’m argentinian and the major element in this story is a Borgues book. OF COURSE IT’S HERE. This fic is an absolute ride and so so so beautiful - multiple universes and Jon and Martin doing the same thing over and over and over again, with hope of finding each other.

Family, Found  by Dribbledscribbles. Gen fic. 9k words. S4 Divergent. Canon Divergence. 

It’s Basira who catches onto it.

The collective shift that seems to come over them when heading in or out of the Institute. Not just the oppressive sensation of being observed, their every move catalogued for the voyeuristic cravings of some unseen Eye(s). That feeling remained with them even when they left the Institute these days, but it was always stronger inside its walls. That wasn’t the change. Nor was it the point.

The point was: making life worse for Jonathan Sims.

Mod note: Do you want to hit the Eye? Do you want all the Entities’s plans to be twarted by the power of found family? Do you want everyone who blamed Jon for everything in S4 to sit down and apologise? This is your fic.

Mod Ebby:

the apple of the eye by  gocrazygostupid. 2.8k words. Fluff. Lore speculation.

TELL ME, ARCHIVIST

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SONG?

i'm not sure. i don't really get the chance to listen to music

if i told you, what would you do with it?

Mod note: I am absolutely weak towards any fic that gives the Entities some form of sentience, no matter what canon said. Especially when these interactions are so surprisingly soft. 

I WOULD PLAY IT

I WOULD LISTEN

in the chillest land and on the strangest sea by  imperfectcircle and raven (singlecrow). 19k words. S4 Divergent. Canon divergence, in the space between 159-160

Jon remembers a statement he read years ago given by a Jesuit priest, who said that the shortest prayer he knew was, just, fuck it, as in fuck it; it's in God's hands. He takes Daisy's hand and trails on after her.

or; hope is a thing with feathers.

Mod note: Everytime I read this fic, I end up at least a little teary eyed. It’s not exactly happy, more bittersweet, considering, but I still love it.

Come Love This World (Come Hate It, Too) by cedarbranch. 3.3k words. Character Study, fluff and angst, spans s1-5. Canon Compliant. 

Jon never liked poetry, until Martin.

Mod note: Yes I am picking fics that personally came for my heart one way or another, not much else to say, besides that “it feels like loving you” haunts me still to this day, in a good way.

i love you, i'm glad i exist by kissyourlocalmoth. 1.7k words. Scottish safehouse period. Fluff.  Established relationship.

Martin was thinking of a poem. It’s name sat on the tip of his tongue, aching to get out. It was a lovely one, too: something about how life felt easy now, at peace; how the small things felt like everything, a poem about… the importance of the little moments. These last few days had been like that, he thought. He couldn’t stop smiling to himself recently, and even Jon teased him about it sometimes, though he was hardly less giddy. He thought of the immense joy the little things brought him now, the mugs of tea they made for each other, how he would lay in their bed late at night staring at the ceiling, his love nestled against his chest, overflowing with so much contentment and fondness he did not know what to make of himself.

Mod note: Short and sweet, it was the first time I read that particular poem, and now it’s forever intertwined in my head with little scenes of jon and martin in the scottish safehouse before 160 happens.

exit wound by autoclaves. 3.1k words. Post-canon AU. Ending speculation.

Suppose there is a house on a hilltop. Suppose there is a story. There is always a story, and every universe is always expanding.

Mod note: I would’ve liked to tag this more, but it would probably spoil the twist it has. Reading back on it, the narration reminds me of the statement from 196, which I find fitting and a funny coincidence, considering. 

[arctic-comet]

Osblaine week 2021, Day 2: Lyrics

Over the last several weeks, I have carefully curated a playlist for Osblaine. The final total length of the playlist is 2 hours and 53 minutes.

The playlist can be found HERE

Click "Keep Reading" if you're interested in the introduction, commentary, more graphics and the full tracklist.

For full disclosure, I have to give some of the credit to my amazing fellow Osblaine fangirls @dystopiandramaqueen, @splitscreen and everyone who participated in a certain conversation for the original inspiration and even bringing up some of the songs.

You should look at the playlist in five parts: one section for each season that's aired and one section for the future (because I like to end things on a hopeful note).

The playlist contains a lot of the following:

Music from movie and TV soundtracks

Instrumental music

Remixes

Classics and covers of classics

Country music. I blame Florida. My sincerest apologies.

Some of the songs were chosen because they reminded me of a certain Osblaine scene, and some of them aren't specific to particular scenes but chosen for the general Osblaine vibe. And most of the movie/TV music I chose have been used for couples that remind me of Nick and June.

Part I- Season 1, first 12 songs of the playlist:

Forbidden Love- Abel Korzeniowski, Jasper Randall, The Hollywood Studio Symphony (Romeo & Juliet)

Fireflies- Owl City

Echoes in Rain- Enya

My Ghost- Glass Pear (Bones)

Daring to Hope- Anne Dudley (Poldark)

Everytime We Touch- Cascada

1000 Times- Sara Bareilles

Too Good At Goodbyes- Sam Smith

In Case You Don't Live Forever- Ben Platt

To Find You- Cast of Sing Street, Brenock O’Connor

She- Elvis Costello (Notting Hill)

Miracle- Instrumental- Cö Shu Nie

Hanging By A Moment- Lifehouse

Commentary:

The first instrumental song IMO works as an intro for their entire love story.

The next two songs are more about having the right vibe. It's a little ambiguous and dark because that's how their life is in Gilead.

Leave my door open just a crack

Please take me away from here

'Cause I feel like such an insomniac

Please take me away from here

Why do I tire of counting sheep?

Please take me away from here

When I'm far too tired to fall asleep

***

Wait for the sun

Watching the sky

Black as a crow

Night passes by

Taking the stars

So far away

Everything flows

Here comes another new day

Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah

***

"My Ghost" is June's POV before they sleep together, wondering if she can trust Nick:

Who can you trust, in this place?

And whom can I put my faith?

If you're real, then show me now,

Who you are

The last two songs are for episode 1x10, for both Nick’s reaction to June’s pregnancy and the beginning of her first escape attempt (arranged by Nick).

She may be the face I can't forget The trace of pleasure or regret May be my treasure or the price I have to pay She may be the song that summer sings Maybe the chill that autumn brings Maybe a hundred different things Within the measure of a day

Part II- Season 2, next 10 songs:

Love Will Keep Us Alive- Eagles

So Easy- Phillip Phillips

Incomplete- James Bay

Rewrite the Stars- The Piano Guys (The Greatest Showman)

I’ll Be Your Shelter- Taylor Dayne

Love Never Fails- Brandon Heath

P.S. I Love You- 05:11- John Powell (P.S. I Love You)

It's A Girl- Mychel Danna (The Time Traveler's Wife)

I'll Stand By You- Josh Groban, Helene Fischer

The Miracle of Love- Eurythmics

Commentary:

The first four songs cover June’s escape attempt and the time they share at the Boston Globe.

"Incomplete" is Nick's POV from when she's on the run and he knows she'll be gone from his life soon. He lives in the moment.

I don't wanna look down

I don't want us to break up in the clouds

All I want is to stay us, to stay with you now

"I'll Be Your Shelter" is for when June's mental health is at its lowest point and he goes to Serena to beg for her to get June help.

What you need is a friend to count on

What you got baby you got someone

Who will stay when the rain is fallin'

And won't let it fall on you

P.S. I Love You takes me back to episode 2.09, Nick’s selflessness in the episode and of course the scene where after telling June that Luke loves her, he tells her that he loves her too, despite believing she probably doesn’t feel the same way.

It's A Girl makes me think of the beautiful moment they share during June's false labor when he helps her out of the van and they climb the steps together.

I’ll Stand By You is for 2.10, Nick holding June after she was heartbroken over Hannah and over what the Waterfords did to her and clinging onto him.

Part III- Season 3, next 6 songs:

Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close- Alexandre Desplat (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)

All I Ask- Adele

Never Enough- Loren Allred (The Greatest Showman)

I Don’t Wanna Live Forever- Taylor Swift, ZAYN (Fifty Shades Darker)

Love is Gone- SLANDER, Dylan Matthew

Constellations- The Oh Hellos

Commentary:

For obvious reasons, it was extremely difficult to pick songs for this season.

The first (instrumental) song is for the beginning of the season with June coming back to the Waterford house and them then saying goodbye to each other on the street.

All I Ask, Never Enough, I Don't Wanna Live Forever and Love Is Gone are for their night together in June’s room at Lawrence’s (the one we didn’t get to see sigh). They know it's possible it's all they'll ever have, and they'll take it, but it'll never be enough.

I will leave my heart at the door I won't say a word They've all been said before, you know So why don't we just play pretend? Like we're not scared of what's coming next Or scared of having nothing left

Look, don't get me wrong I know there is no tomorrow All I ask is

If this is my last night with you Hold me like I'm more than just a friend Give me a memory I can use Take me by the hand while we do what lovers do It matters how this ends 'Cause what if I never love again?

***

All the shine of a thousand spotlights

All the stars we steal from the night sky

Will never be enough

Never be enough

Towers of gold are still too little

These hands could hold the world but it'll

Never be enough

Never be enough

***

I'm sorry, don't leave me, I want you here with me

I know that your love is gone

I can't breathe, I'm so weak, I know this isn't easy

Don't tell me that your love is gone

That your love is gone

"Constellations" is for their long separation and the doubts that I'm sure plagued them both during it. Would they ever see each other again?

Part IV- S4, next 12 songs:

All of Me- John Legend

(Everything I do) I Do It For You- Bryan Adams

Iris- Natalie Taylor (City of Angels)

She Was Like A Bright Light- Hans Zimmer, Rupert Greyson-Williams (Winter’s Tale)

Noah's Last Letter- Aaron Zigman (The Notebook)

What’s In The Middle- the bird and the bee (Bones)

ivy- Taylor Swift

Footprints in the Sand- Leona Lewis

Remember Me (Lullaby)- Gael Garcia Bernal, Gabriella Flores (Coco)

On The Nature Of Daylight- Max Richter

My Heart Will Go On- Basil Jose (Titanic)

The Story- Sara Ramirez (Grey's Anatomy)

Commentary:

There were sooo many songs I wanted to include in part IV, but I controlled myself and ended up with this particular dozen.

"She Was Like A Bright Light" and "Noah’s Last Letter" are an instrumental double punch to the gut for Nick’s time in Gilead during episodes 4.07-4.09. The first one is meant for when he finds out June made it to Canada, and the 2nd for is for when he starts to gather info on Hannah to give to June.

"What’s in the Middle" and "ivy" are June’s POV of episodes 4.07-4.09.

"What's In The Middle" has more of an angry and confused vibe, and June was definitely both in episodes 7 and 8.

Losing your head is such a common theme

All your brains are falling out, falling out the open seams

Where is the heart, is the heart of the matter

I will empty out my skull of all this useless chatter

On the other hand, "ivy" has this haunted vibe, but there's also reverence and acceptance, which she begins to achieve in episode 9.

Oh, goddamn

My pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand

Taking mine, but it's been promised to another

Oh, I can't

Stop you putting roots in my dreamland

My house of stone, your ivy grows

And now I'm covered in you

The next three songs are of course all for their reunion in 4.09, and I couldn’t resist including the song that was actually played in the scene.

"The Story" draws the season to a close nicely, with June understanding that her current needs are different from what they used to be and that there’s someone who understands her completely (and it’s not Luke).

You see the smile that's on my mouth

It's hiding the words that don't come out

And all of my friends who think that I'm blessed

They don't know my head is a mess

No, they don't know who I really am

And they don't know what I've been through like you do

And I was made for you

Part V- Season 5 and Beyond, the last 6 songs

Secret Love Song- Little Mix, Jason Derulo

Burn With You- Lea Michele

The Bones- Maren Morris

Feels Like Home- Auli'i Carvalho, Keegan DeWitt

Love Will Find A Way- Piano Covers (Lion King II)

Like I'll Never Love You Again- Carrie Underwood

“Secret Love Song” is a more angsty tune about a love that’s still kept a secret like June and Nick’s love (as far as most people are concerned). Now that they’ve already made out in front of the man who raped and abused June and made Nick watch him do that, I want to believe they can let go of the secrecy in S5, at least when it comes to a few people.

I'm living for that day Someday Can I hold you in the street? Why can't I kiss you on the dancefloor? I wish that we could be like that Why can't we it be like that? Cause I'm yours, I'm yours Why can't you hold me in the street? Why can't I kiss you on the dancefloor? I wish that it could be like that Why can't it be like that? Cause I'm yours Why can't I say that I'm in love? I wanna shout it from the rooftops I wish that it could be like that Why can't we be like that? Cause I'm yours Why can't we be like that? Wish we could be like that

***

“Bones” is about a relationship with a strong foundation, which IMO they do have. It will carry them in the future, too. They’re more into each other now than ever before and especially June is coming to terms with how strong that love is. They’ll weather any storm.

When the bones are good, the rest don't matter

Yeah, the paint could peel, the glass could shatter

Let it break 'cause you and I remain the same

When there ain't a crack in the foundation

Baby, I know any storm we're facing

Will blow right over while we stay put

The house don't fall when the bones are good

***

“Feels Like Home” is more hopeful. Their home is with each other and I hope that’s something that will be explored more in the future.

Take me, I'm ready

Go slow but go steady

To a place that we can call our own

I wanna know what feels like home

***

“Like I’ll Never Love You Again” is a good conclusion for the playlist. It’s hopeful and a testament to an epic love.

I wanna love you like the rain on a roof

Stronger than a bottle of a hundred ten proof

I wanna take love to places that love has never been

Yeah, I wanna love you like I'll never love you again

And I'll love you again

Oh, and again

[inmyarmswrappedin]

So, because Fatou’s season ends today and, as far as we know, Druck hasn’t been renewed yet, I want to go over the things I feel the team did well in this season and the things I hope they take with them when they sit down to write the next season (which I’m manifesting will be Ava’s).

I think that s5 and, perhaps to a bigger extent, s6, were the team’s attempt to address fan feedback for and criticisms of s3 and s4. So I have hopes that, after possibly the most scrutinized season of any Skams, they are still willing to read even more feedback and sit down once again to craft a couple more seasons (possibly even 3 or 4 more seasons!).

So, without further ado, things that were done well! (Do I have to add “in my opinion”? Do I??)

I liked that for both s5 and s6, the thorough-line for the season wasn’t made obvious or shared in a press release, but rather it was up to fans to connect the story threads for themselves.

I loved that the team sought to address one of the biggest criticisms of s3, that is, that Matteo was given so many symptoms of a mental illness, but it ultimately went unaddressed in the narrative. They did this by giving Nora a dissociative disorder, and Fatou dyscalculia. (Matteo has been headcanoned as being mentally ill and having a disability.) It allowed the teams to develop both fan theories into full-blown seasons and give each of them the importance they deserved.

I have said this already, but I really appreciate that the team chose misunderstood, misrepresented and underrepresented mental illnesses and disabilities. I feel like s5 and s6 will be referents for many years, because they really took the time to portray a dissociative disorder and dyscalculia in a down-to-earth, unhurried way that isn’t meant to shock and awe, but simply allow us to understand why and when Nora and Fatou will struggle. Druck got the viewers to anticipate when Nora and Fatou would struggle, and that’s the first step in being able to anticipate and accommodate the needs of the Noras and Fatous of the world. I really can’t overstate how important this is and what a difference it makes in a real, tangible way. These seasons aren’t meant to be enjoyed for voyeuristic reasons, but they will legitimately help people.

One of the biggest criticisms of s4 was that Amira and Sam didn’t connect as women of color. In fact, it seemed like in s4 Sam was treated as another white friend, when in s2 both she and Amira were the victims of Kiki’s racism. The team addressed this by giving us Ava and Fatou’s friendship, which I want to say might be the first friendship between main characters of color where their race is a substantial reason for their bond. (There are the Sanas with their Jamillas, but the Jamillas aren’t main characters, and then there are friendships like Jo and Megan and Zoya, or Imaan and Liv, or Luca and Yasmina, but iirc in every case their bond as women of color isn’t made explicit.)

Another criticism of s4 was the way Kiki turned into the world’s most understanding white friend offscreen. The team addressed this with the Ava and Mailin storyline, which I think was wonderfully and subtly set up in s5, then built on with the biology test leaked answers.

On the topic of race, I think a major criticism of s3 was that David’s ethnicity wasn’t acknowledged (to the point where a white actress was cast to play his sister gvhvhv). The team has made up for this with Josh (more in the s6 sm than in s5, but I still count it) and with Kieu My. Fatou and Kieu My bonded over being first/second gen children of immigrants, and in doing so, they acknowledged that these characters aren’t white and have different experiences than white Germans.  

The first 6 episodes of this season were some of the finest writing in the Skams. The storylines all connected and built on each other. The motifs were just so good and beautiful and fitting. The themes were all clearly defined and easy to follow.

The tortoise plot was one of the most fun and imaginative storylines in any Skams, it connected Fatou and Ismail in a believable way. And not to rave about a fucking tortoise, but animals can be really uncooperative and that tortoise delivered every fucking clip. Druck has a reputation for being one of the most depressive versions of Skam, but the Maike/Burger plot was just plain fun.

I feel like some of the old gen’s instas were a bit self-indulgent. I’m thinking specifically of Matteo’s memes and how they they weren’t necessarily the kind of memes a gay dude born in 2001 would pick, but someone a decade older. I think this is much better done with new gen. Fatou’s memes reflect her age and her sexuality, and not just that, but Ava, Mailin, Kieu My, Josh, etc. all pick memes and even focus on different aspects of recent news, based on their gender, race, personalities, interests, etc.

I appreciate that the team found a way to fit a sex scene between Fatou and Kieu My to add to the small catalogue of wlw sex scenes on Skams (I’m including the scene in lovleg or we’d only have two lol). While I understood the reasons eskam opted not to include one, I thought there were ways to feature a sex scene that didn’t sexualize the actresses and didn’t require nudity. Cases in point: the lovleg scene, and this scene in Druck.

And it also needs to be said. This is the first original season with a main of color, and the third season overall (after Liv and Imane) where 10 episodes are given to a character of color and no one else. Of the three, it’s certainly the season that loved and respected its main the most. The bar is so low it’s in hell, but Druck did clear that bar!

With all that said, let’s talk about the things I would really want the team to address in following seasons:

The thing I most want them to fix might be small or unimportant for a lot of people, but I think it’s at the core of why the season has been unenjoyable or certain plot points haven’t come across the way the team wanted, for many people. I am talking about the overly expositional nature of the writing.  It appears as if the team approached the writing of the clips with the intention of hitting each beat as noted in their agreed upon outline, and absolutely nothing else was to be added. This is an issue both in s5 and s6. It’s just less noticeable in s5, because s5 is setting up stuff for Fatou’s season, and possibly even seasons that haven’t been written yet. The fact that absolutely every second counts makes for a stressful watching experience for me, because the narrative tension is always heightened. Whereas with Skam, the narrative tension would build throughout the clip. Take the Pride scene in Skam, for instance. The clip allows for Isak and Eskild to get increasingly more agitated as they butt heads. I feel like if this Druck team had done the Pride scene in s5 or s6, the clip would’ve started with both Isak and Eskild already on edge, and cut much of the dialogue that got them there.

On the topic of naturalistic dialogue, this season doesn’t have it. Here is an example from ep 10 clip 2, Wieder vereint/Reunited 11:37.

Fatou: I’ll get a certificate too and bring it over to you. And I checked it, I only have to change one course and my schedule will work.

Teacher: Miss Jallow, you are not the first one to come to me with an epiphany. We could fill entire school weeks with the lessons you missed. In addition, Doctor Steinberg told me about your, well… activities. You don’t have a lot of arguments on your side. 

Fatou: But I’ve spoken to all of the teachers and they said they are okay with it. 

Teacher: You seem to have friends among the teaching staff. Mrs Pavlovic put in a word for you. Okay then, do it and go before I change my mind. [translated by @kieu-tou! Thank you!] 

Like. This is the bare bones version of a dialogue. This should be the first draft, not the final version. The coordinator goes from absolute no to yes, with just one line from Fatou. The coordinator gives reasons that would necessitate more than one sentence of counterargument, like Fatou’s absences and the Biology test leaked answers. The coordinator even says Fatou doesn’t have a lot of arguments on her side, and yet it takes Fatou one line to change her mind!

And of course we viewers don’t want or need a lot of time with the coordinator. And particularly at this point in the season, no one would enjoy a naturalistic dialogue with the coordinator of all people.  But my point is that this is an issue with the dialogue all this season (and last season as well, but this season has been more scrutinized), the reason I picked this example is because of how easy it is to see here.

Which brings us to the pacing of the clips, and specifically the Friday clips. Because the script goes straight to the information the team wants to convey to the viewers, skipping the build up to it, many Friday clips have fallen flat, felt abrupt, and have been, tbh, unsatisfying. Again, I had this issue in s5, but as that season went on, I felt like the team had a better grip on Friday clips. But then they did it again in the first Friday clip this season, and so I think this is something the writers really should work on. The first Friday clip in Isak’s season closes on Isak being sandwiched by Emma and Even on a bench, visually setting up the love triangle, or more accurately, the personifications of who Isak should want to hook up with and who he really wants. But in order to get there, we’re shown a good amount of info, from the way Vilde, Eva and Sana are handling Noora’s absence, to Chris and Kasper, Even hovering around Isak, Emma trying to impress Isak, Isak escaping and, like, draping himself on the walls because he’s so over it all. Isak playing a game on the bathroom to stall for time. The paper towel maneuver to immediately give us a sense of what a weirdo Even is. A conversation between Isak and Even that gives us some clues about Even’s shame, as well as establish interests in common (like weed), and this is all before Emma even joins them! Just think of all the stuff we learn about who Isak, Even, Emma, Eva, Vilde or Sana are as people, before we get to the point of the clip! Fatou’s season simply didn’t have that. Compare it with the first Friday clip of Fatou’s season where the cashqueens quickly talk about the leaked answers, one of the major storylines this season that only gets a couple lines, before Fatou says she doesn’t want to talk about school (Fatou’s struggles with school, another major storyline), and then we’re onto the point of the clip, which is that Kieu My likes girls too. AND FADE TO BLACK. When people say they want longer clips, what they mean isn’t artificially inflate the clip length or add more plot stuff. Just let us watch the characters interact with each other so that we get a feel for how they relate to each other. I know I wish we’d have gotten more of Ava and Fatou interacting with each other before things turned to shit, and Ava with the other girls, so that I know why they all like and value Ava so much. I wish we’d have gotten more of Kieu My talking to the cashqueens about, like, why she didn’t make use of the biology test answers, instead of getting it on a chat. Or food combos they don’t like. So it makes more sense that later on Kieu My actually thinks she and Fatou are friends.  And every line doesn’t have to count. In Skam España, the characters are constantly talking and not everything they ever talked about ended up being relevant. When one of the characters lied about her house undergoing renovations to hide the fact that she was poor, the characters joked about Italian marble and put on bad Italian accents and made that Italian hand gesture. None of this was important to the plot because those renovations weren’t real to begin with, but they made viewers feel like these were real friends joking around, instead of characters needing to hit every storyline beat in a clip.

I have this joke with my friends about Druck always going 🤪🤪 in the last third of every season, in which a season that was very tightly written and cohesive suddenly pulls something inexplicable and pretty much impossible to resolve in 1-3 episodes. Hanna’s season suddenly switching to Mia, Björn creeping on Mia in episode 9! of a total 10, David getting outed in episode 8 and then disappearing for a whole week, Amira’s season pivoting to Mia and Hanna. It has happened in every season except Nora’s, so I thought the team had learned its lesson, but then the forgotten date with Ava happened. To be clear. It really makes no sense that Nora would have hung out with Ava several times since Tuesday, and the topic of the cashqueens being officially introduced to Kieu My wouldn’t have come up. it’s just not realistic.gif I feel like at that point the writing for the rest of the reason became super contrived to keep Fatou miserable and apart from Kieu My and Ava to artificially delay the reunions until episode 9 and 10. Why add a cheating insinuation and the main checking her partner’s messages in episode 8 if you know you won’t be able to properly resolve it? Why make Kieu My mock Fatou’s “uhm” if it’s not going to be addressed in their reunion clip? Kieu My had taken the initiative for a lot of the relationship, so it’s okay for Fatou to take the initiative when it comes to making up. You don’t have to add things that can only be resolved through an expositional info dump. (Please no more exposition than it’s necessary! I think we’ve established that at this point lol.) In the case of Fatou’s season, this is even sadder because I feel like Kieu My’s intimacy issues could’ve been the reason to drive them apart for two weeks, rather than the Maya/uhm stuff. This could’ve also been resolved through Fatou and Kieu My explicitly negotiating their boundaries and how they want to be comforted and how they want to comfort each other, which I thought was the issue with Fatou rejecting Kieu My’s attempts to help while wanting physical touch, while Kieu My didn’t want to be touched but rather seen.  

There are going to be many thinkpieces on why a myriad of stuff didn’t work for people, so I’m going to keep this simple and address one last thing. I think that choosing to focus on Nora’s mental illness and Fatou’s disability is a great choice that doesn’t complicate the themes too much, but Druck (and all the Skams, but I’m invested only in Druck succeeding at this point) still struggles with being intersectional. This is the major reason why the Ava/Mailin storyline ended not with a bang, but a whimper. There just wasn’t enough work done to connect Fatou’s struggles not just to her disability, but also to her race (and even her sexuality). I think that if people really want (and lbr, it’ll be mostly poc who will put in that effort and work), they can see how Fatou’s race affected the way other people and especially adults reacted to her, but this wasn’t made explicit. If Ava and Mailin are going to argue about racism all season, why not connect that with Karin firing Fatou from Aquarius? As it stands, Karin fired Fatou because of a disability neither of them knew Fatou has, and that was the resolution to that storyline. Why not make it explicit that the Physics teacher had preconceived ideas about Fatou because Fatou is black? Why wasn’t Fatou’s disability addressed in the meeting with the coordinator? Why didn’t Fatou express to Mailin that Fatou, too, had issues with how Mailin was acting wrt racism? It felt like, with the way the season was putting so much emphasis on racism, all these threads were going to be connected. In the end though, it almost felt as if only Ava is affected by racism (aside from Mailin mentioning Fatou in the last episode). It’s not like talking about how racism affects Fatou is going to make the topic redundant for Ava’s or Ismail’s season. As a light-skinned black lesbian with a disability, Fatou’s life is going to be impacted by racism in a different way than Ava’s will, as a dark-skinned black fat straight cis girl, or Ismail’s, as a Turkish-German possibly Muslim possibly non binary person. All these experiences are specific enough, and different enough, that they can be touched upon in different seasons without becoming redundant. The fact that Fatou’s season almost seemed to forget at times that she is a black lesbian, doesn’t bode well for Ava’s and Ismail’s season to acknowledge all their struggles.

The bottom line is that this season really was great and did a lot of good, and I feel like the writing just needs to be tweaked a bit for further seasons to be even better and more enjoyable overall. I am very pleasantly surprised by how the team took s1-s4 fan feedback to heart and worked to implement suggestions, and so I really trust them and hope they keep working on the show. It’d be a shame if Druck wasn’t renewed, with this team at the helm.    

[sotorubio]

Incoming, long ask! 🚨

Re: your latest post. I’ve thought about this a lot lately. And as someone who went through several bullies. It stays with you for a long while after it happened. Like: the times I was bullied (whether it was 2 years or 6 months) left a mark on me and I still struggle with things I developed during that time.

I don’t want to project too much of myself unto Ava. But having faith in others, believing your enough and trust that your friends won’t leave you if you do something unexpected. It’s all part of the aftermath. Apart from the obvious fear of being bullied again.

Obviously, I can’t be sure where Ava struggles with the same things as me. But I feel even during the two previous seasons, the impact of the bullying on Ava wasn’t as much highlighted. e.g.:

s5: Ava is upset bc of the t-shirts -> feels let down by friends/ may think she’s being deserted all over again -> especially since Nora used to be an “Insta”

s6: Ava is upset bc of Kieutou -> is freshly triggered by memories of being bullied ; Ava has a conflict with Mailin over BLM -> doesn’t feel taken seriously or rather: used as a “means” to other people’s “ends”

I am not black (or even of colour), so I’ll never be able to actually know what that feels like. But having been bullied I can empathise with her reactions. Mostly derived out of fear and trauma, which manifests in Ava as distrust and short-temperedness. And I think it would help if the script would highlight that damaged side of Ava’s personality a bit more. Bc even a strong independent woman can hurt (a lot, in Ava’s case). 🥲

Okay, I hope you’re not too discouraged by this rant.

Love,

anonymoon 🌙

hi 🥰

u said it all rly well! i can't even add much to this i think it's already a v comprehensive text on its own.

i think a lot of the criticism toward the new team who've kind of erased a lot of the characters' personalities & dismissed previous storylines is also fitting here w the points u brought up. like the analysis of ava's possible feelings in s5&6 that u gave examples of r in my opinion beautiful signs of the old team's writing n how they tied everything together. that's exactly what i think is missing from this season, small reminders of the other characters' already established history... especially in ava's case bc she's supposed to be such a central part of this!!

bullying is always so horrible regardless of the time it goes on so sorry u've had to deal w that in the past 💔💞 hope ur feeling better nowadays n i don't think it's wrong to relate to ava n project onto her a bit! after all these characters r supposed to represent real life ppl so we should see ourselves in them n that's exactly why there r also a lot of complains abt it when they fail to respectfully do that :(